5 Juicy Teases for Season 3 of 'Arrow'

If you've never hopped aboard the Arrow train, Wednesday night is the time to buy a ticket.

Creating a season premiere that functioned as a "good jumping off point for new viewers" was not necessarily the intension, according to executive producer Marc Guggenheim, but the end of Season 2, which saw the departure of a major villain and a few character arc conclusions that function as beginnings in this new season, just lent itself to such an episode.

"I don't really think there's anything you really need to know coming into it," he told reporters of the Season 3 opener. "It's pretty new-viewer friendly. That wasn't necessarily by design, it just happened to work out that way because of the story we were telling."

That doesn't mean, however, that returning viewers won't be rewarded for their loyalty. And with that in mind, here are five juicy teases from our conversation with Guggenheim.

Who is Oliver Queen?

A central theme of this year is identity, says Guggenheim, and the new season will find financially-strapped struggling to find his place outside of being a superhero.

"This is the challenge and struggle he'll be dealing with over the entire season. Episode 3 will demonstrate how important Thea is to him — and how, basically, Thea is the one last tie he has to his persona as Oliver. But this is his season long journey. Is there an Oliver Queen any more? Can there be? And if there can be, what does that look like? It's a real conundrum for him."

Olicity action

Over the summer, we learned that Oliver and Felicity would be heading out on their first date, but as with everything on the show, not everything will go exactly according to plan.

"Oh god, I've been teasing [fans] mercilessly on Twitter," Guggenheim said. "I like to say it's an explosive first date." While it was difficult for Guggenheim to tease beyond that — because, spoilers — he did confirm the pair's first lip-lock, the circumstances of which may not be entirely straightforward. "I hope it plays as unexpected, and I hope it plays as emotional."

Roy suits up

Photos of Roy in full costume have been circulating for months, and Wednesday's premiere will be everyone's first look at that suit in action.

"That's a big component of this season," Guggenheim says. "I was very happy with Season 2, but one of the things I think we dropped the ball on a little bit was that in 2.12 we made a big deal about Roy joining the team and then didn't get a chance to do that much with him because we were pushing a lot of other story. I think one of the fun things about Season 3 is we really get to play with that."

The Roy-centric episode 6, he said, will particularly be a great hour for the character. "I wouldn't call it a sequel [to Season 2's episode 12], but they are thematically related and they will feel very similar."

Roy (Colton Haynes) sports some spiffy new duds in the season premiere of 'Arrow.'

Image: CW

Welcome, Ray Palmer

Going into this season, Guggenheim said the writers wanted to take a cue from other great third seasons we've seen on TV and introduce a character who would shake things up. Enter Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh), a.k.a. The Atom.

"We were thinking, 'Who's a kind of character that we haven't seen on the show?' And the one thing we haven't seen is someone who can play on Felicity's level in terms of the banter," he said. "Felicity, we always say we write her as if she came in from a different show. But the problem is she doesn't have anyone else to talk to like that. You can't write sort of West Wing-y banter with Felicity and anyone because banter requires two people. Low and behold, here's Ray Palmer."

Yes, he's fun and funny and charming...and probably going to cause a lot of trouble for Olicity fans. "Ray is a joy to write for because his banter with Felicity is a lot of of fun. It's a quality on the show we've never seen before," he says.

Brandon Routh as Ray Palmer in the season premiere of 'Arrow.'

Image: Cate Cameron/The CW

The crossover

"I have to say, I've never had so much fun writing a script before in my life. It was such a blast to work on." The Arrow half of the equation is currently in production and Guggenheim said it's shaping up to be a major production. "I kept telling everyone we should try for Avengers. These two heroes together, big production value. We're blowing out the doors on this."

Bonus: Hot tip

Do not fail this city: watch the premiere live. (8 p.m. ET, fyi.) That is all.

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